Sim free Iphone

Carpenter

My wife has a sim free Iphone and is over in Turkey but when she puts in a Turkcell or Vodafone sim it says no service over here she uses a meteor sim and has used a 02 sim what the hell could the problem be with this yoke:mad:

Carpenter

HELP PLEASE

Gumbo

sounds like the phone is not actually unlocked, but restricted to certain irish carriers.

Carpenter

kceire wrote: »

sounds like the phone is not actually unlocked, but restricted to certain irish carriers.

So what can be done about that

flyguy

Not sure if I can help, but I'll try. Firstly make sure the network selection is set to automatic (under settings->carrier).
Another quick fix that sometimes helps is doing a soft reset, hold both the power and home button simultaneously until the phone switches off/restarts (do NOT "slide to power off" when you hold the buttons, keep holding them until the phone switches off by itself).
Maybe others have better solutions...

Carpenter

flyguy wrote: »

Not sure if I can help, but I'll try. Firstly make sure the network selection is set to automatic (under settings->carrier).
Another quick fix that sometimes helps is doing a soft reset, hold both the power and home button simultaneously until the phone switches off/restarts (do NOT "slide to power off" when you hold the buttons, keep holding them until the phone switches off by itself).
Maybe others have better solutions...

Cool thank you keep them coming she is driving me mad

flyguy

I doubt the phone is locked to Irish carriers. If it is you should get a different error msg (the phone should ask for the original sim to be inserted). So make sure the "no service" was the only msg displayed. If it is locked there are only 2 option:
-official unlock; the company you bought the phone with can unlock the phone on request but there might be some conditions you have to meet before they will do this (for free) like completed your contract or a minimum amount of top-ups (I think the unlock is still done through iTunes so you will need access to a computer and it usually takes a couple a days before your request is completed).
-unofficial unlock: walk into a local phone shop and ask them to unlock it (prob 25-50euro). This has some advantages like not being limited to only the app store. The big disadvantages are: it's not free, if you update the iOS software the locks will go back on and when they do this in the shop they usually erase all the content (numbers, pics, music) of your phone (of course you can restore this of your iTunes backup but I guess she doesn't have that with her...) Good luck!

CathalDublin

flyguy wrote: »

-unofficial unlock: walk into a local phone shop and ask them to unlock it (prob 25-50euro). This has some advantages like not being limited to only the app store. The big disadvantages are: it's not free, if you update the iOS software the locks will go back on and when they do this in the shop they usually erase all the content (numbers, pics, music) of your phone (of course you can restore this of your iTunes backup but I guess she doesn't have that with her...) Good luck!

There hasn't been a software unlock for the iphone since the very old baseband so unless the user has been preserving basebands in which case they would know how to do this themselves it's highly unlikely a software unlock(ultrasn0w) is possible. if the phone is somehow still region locked it is possible to buy a gevey ultra s sim to unlock the phone

as mentioned try a soft reset, or settings-general-reset-reset network settings

flyguy

True, it's surprising though how many people never update their iOS or even sync their phone so might be a small change the phone is still running the iOS it came with.
Carpenter be sure to try the reset network settings CathalDublin suggested (forgot about that one myself).
Let us know if you get it sorted..

coylemj

When advising someone to reset network settings, can you please include the health warning that resetting network settings will scrub all of your stored Wi-Fi passwords.

This quote below is from the iPhone User Guide, it suggests to me that resetting network settings has nothing to do with the cellular network settings.

When you reset network settings, your list of previously used networks and VPN settings not installed by a configuration profile are removed. Wi-Fi is turned off and then back on, disconnecting you from any network you’re on. The Wi-Fi and “Ask to Join Networks” settings remain turned on.

None of the cellular settings like automatic or manual network selection or 3G/GSM is mentioned so frankly I don't think this option has anything to do with the OP's problem.

I suspect the phone was set to manually select a network in the UK or some other country so the iPhone is now set to that network when roaming and that network is not available in Turkey.

OP, try looking in Settings/Carrier and see what it's set to, it needs to be automatic carrier selection.

From the User Guide...

Select a carrier: Go to Settings > Carrier and select the network you want to use.

Once you select a network, iPhone uses only that network. If the network is unavailable, “No service” appears on the iPhone.

CathalDublin

coylemj wrote: »

This quote below is from the iPhone User Guide, it suggests to me that resetting network settings has nothing to do with the cellular network settings.

apple online trouble shooting would suggest differently here

coylemj

CathalDublin wrote: »

apple online trouble shooting would suggest differently here

As far as I can see, the only change to the cellular settings that comes about from resetting network settings is to set the cellular network selection back to automatic from manual but you can do this yourself as a separate exercise by going into Settings/Carrier and you won't lose all your stored Wi-Fi SSIDs and passwords.

That Apple troubleshooting is the standard 'try everything and see which one works', I think we can do better than that!

Carpenter

OK I am going to try all in a few hours with her all this help needs a BIG THANK-YOU FROM ME :D